The Waco daily examiner. [volume] (Waco, Tex.) 187?-1888, 1887-06-09
IN OPEN LETTER,
Thc Hon Richard ~. Harrison Al
dresses the Editor OF our trepuscu-
lar totcuporary, 80 Dodgtug"


y. Ia. VI tO Olluu, Gator OF me DAY, .
Waco, Texas. Dear sir.-Nou say
there Is but one issue involved in the
prohibition amendment, f. q. "The
continuation or suppression of the
liquor traffic" If this he true. If the
fight i, solely and simply, one AGAINST
The sa.oons, will you be Kind enough
TO frankly explain to an iuquiring pub.
lie, how IT j. and why it Is that the
man uiacture is also included within
the prohibition; Now, come, no
lodging, this Is neither "sophistry'
nor "irrelcvancyn but plain. straight
forward question, and deserves ike
answer. Rcmomlcr tho amendment
-ays, "thc manuiat lure. sale and cX-
change, is hereby prohibited" Re.
member TOO that DR.. Ctaui.i in lis
Wise county letter said, the amend
ment means exactly what it say ) and
| viii add. and so dee, every honest
man who has any respect Tor his
opinion or public utteranccs. Re
member also, that Drs. Carroll aud
Cranli.l both admit aud concedc that
the government has no right % pre-
scribe what "A man shall eat, drink or
wear Remember further that it is
impossible to drink until the thing to
be drunk has an existence. that the
right TO drink carries with it the right
to make the drink, else il would be
barren right without The fruit OF en-
iOymcnt.
Now don't tell IL that we can send
of and import our drinks be-
,au,c that would be, not only
begging the question, but couccdiag
10 the govC rhmcnt the right to do
Indirectly what it is denied to DO
directly. For if the government ta.
the right to designate the place from
which the citizen NUT obtain hi
drink, then the government could, if
it chose, designate n place 30 lar oil
Aul iuAcces ibic that IL would be i'm
possible for the citizen TO yet the
drink at ell and thus il would accom-
pli-h by circum.ocation what IT could
lot DO by direct action. The courts
all say that YOU cannot DO indirectly
W hat il inhibited to you by direct
action. Hence, il follows, the right TO
drink carries the right to make
the drink. You having pledged your
self and all other prohibluonists to
answer everything from the antis from
Mustang graICs up to personal lib
erty.' ! herewith present some in-
quirius covering that immediate ter
ritory from one end TO the other, and
inclusive of both, which you will
please answer frankly, squarely, di-
rcctly and without the Intervention
OF the little dodge OF which YOU
profess such q horror. In another
paragraph YOU say you are going to
investigate the figures and statistics
and zee if matters are Is Hon. w. II.
Grain and THE EXAMINER represent
them. TO help YOU 10 thorough
and honest investigation | herewith
checrfuly furnish you some valuable
statistics gathered by llor j. Il.
| Page, of Houston county, from the
Official records of Maine, West Var
/ giliia, Kansas and Louisiana:
/ First let us look into the official
/ census OF the United state for 1856
and compare the number OF criminals
paupers. idiots u, Il insane in prohibl-
/ ton Maine with similar subjects in
anti-prohbtion West Virginia, two
states that have nearly the same pop.
ulation, and have been settled about
the same length of time;
Criminals III Maine ~ Icr census
los.
Criminals in West Virginia as PEI
census 39i.
Paupers in Maine. as per cen 81.
32ll
Paupers in. West Virgidia as pei
census 1877.
Idiot, in Maine as per census 1925
Idiots in West Virginia a. per cen
ell, 1867.
Insane I'm Maine n per census 1912
Insane in West Virginia rs per cen
sus 9S2.
How does this show up for prohi
b.tion?
Secondly let us look at the taN rate
IN prohibition Maine compared viii
the tlX rate in anti-prohibition We,
Virginia. These states according iC
the official census have nearly tn,
same population and are selected fol
that reason. The tax figures are from
the officers of the states themselves
The taxable wealth OF Maine is SOB,
97S.7l6, the tax rate 20 cents on III,
500. The taxable wealth of Yves
Virginia is SllG7lG,j29, tho tax rat,
80 cents on the 500, i. will be seer
that Maine has over twice rs mucl
property as West Virginia, and sc
West Nirginia's tax rate is les. Tn,
proper way OF comparing the two i
to put them on basis OF equal taxa
BILE property, Here tits: Placing then
on tho same basis the tax rate il
Maine win be - cents on the hun
drcd dollars and in West Virginia !
will only bee 50 cents How does thi
show up tor prohibition with refer
ence to economy in the administration
OF the government
We wi next take gloriiied kansat
and compare its tax rate with that o.
the once down trodden Louisiana.
The taxable wealth OF Kansas per
,oral and real is S277 ,5s1,27S, the IA,
|4l H. cents on the hundred doilar'
The taxable wealth Of Louisiana i
S2l2.725,46i, and the tax rate only !
cents on the hundred dollars, Kan
sa- has more taxable property thai
otsi5iu,tu and uftpr gtril inO a ng 4